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Leominster council to write letters to marijuana firms

By Joe Atmonavage, jatmonavage @sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
04/26/2016 06:53:22 AM EDT

Mark Bodanza
É early stage

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LEOMINSTER -- The City Council voted Monday that it, and not Mayor Dean Mazzarella, will issue all letters of non-opposition for medical-marijuana cultivation and dispensaries facilities interested in locating in the city.

"This is going to be on the books for a while," said Ward 4 Councilor Mark Bodanza. "Do we really want the power in one person's hand that could stop a business cold and stop the process from ever even moving? Or do we want nine, hopefully, judicious people looking at the thing on its merits?"

Bodanza said a non-opposition letter is a statement from the city telling a potential medical-marijuana facility "there is nothing obvious here that would prevent you from getting provisional licensing or potentially locating in the city with a special permit."

The vote was 6-2 in favor of the council authoring non-opposition letters, with at-large Councilors Susan Chalifoux Zephir and John Dombrowski voting in opposition.

Ward 2 Councilor Wayne Nickel was absent.

It was Ward 1 Councilor Gail Feckley who recommended that the council handle the letters, instead of the mayor. She said she met with Mazzarella on Friday and he said he didn't care either way, but wanted councilors to decide in a timely manner.

However, Bodanza wanted it to be clear that the process remains at an early stage. Once the city issues a letter of non-opposition, the next step is provisional licensing from the state. Medical-marijuana facilities must have a provisional license for the state before they come to the City Council for a special permit.

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"It's only a very beginning step in the process," Bodanza said.

Along with the provisional licenses, potential medical-marijuana facilities are suspect to a community host agreement, which the mayor handles.

At-large Councilor Claire Freda said because Mazzarella will be dealing with the host agreement, it may be best to keep non-opposition letters separate.

"There is representation for those wards for having discussions down here, and it does separate the mayor doing the host agreement," she said.

Freda said the knowledge councilors would garner from writing the non-opposition letters would be beneficial if it came down to authorizing a special permit.

"I really feel that we should be nine members of the council doing it," she said.

Dombrowski felt differently. The chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee said it is a cumbersome process that the mayor should handle.

"I don't think I have ever once voted to give the mayor more power, but in this particular circumstance, he has ready access to all the information that he needs to make a good decision," he said "For us to get that access, it is more cumbersome, complicating and, frankly, more political."

Chalifoux Zephir said the mayor should be writing the letters in conjunction with his economic-development team.

"New businesses coming to town, regardless of what kind of business they are, typically go through a process of obtaining permits and information through the city's economic-development person or coordinator," she said.

Chalifoux Zephir argued that having Mazzarella write the letters would allow councilors to be more fair-minded should medical-marijuana facilities come back seeking a special permit.

"I would argue, if we write the letter, would our special-permit process be compromised?" she said. "By keeping arm's length away from issuing the letter, that might make our consideration of the special permit more independent."

Bodanza said a woman from an advocacy group who spoke at a previous council meeting said that they often prefer the City Council do it.

"If you have one person, then the potential for freezing a business out is much stronger," he said.

But because it is such an early step in the process, having nine people make a decision, should be how the non-opposition letters are handled, he said.

"This is very preliminary," Bodanza said. "We are not going to be in a position where we are assessing the entire business plan. That's what the state does."

"I don't see this as a very complex thing," he added. "We just need to get the ball rolling."

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